It's official. Brisbane Roar will be celebrating their 60th anniversary this year. It's a great pleasure to be able to say that.

The history of the Roar has been muddied ? perhaps deliberately by some ? since the A-League license first changed hands in 2008. It's changed hands twice since, and is now owned by the Bakrie Group, of Indonesia. Thankfully, rightfully, the owners have opted to respect history, rather than trash it. "You can't ignore your heritage," Roar managing director Mark Kingsman said. So true.

Thus the club born as Hollandia in 1957, which became Brisbane Lions when the NSL was formed in 1977, is turning 60 years old. Changes of name, or ownership, doesn't change the bloodline. Never has, never will. So there will be functions organised to celebrate the anniversary and next season the Roar will wear a commemorative emblem on their shirts.

Those shirts will remain orange, even though the club wore a one-off maroon shirt early this season. "Orange is the colour of our [Dutch] heritage, and we'll never change that," Kingsman said. He gets it, doesn't he?

There's a reason why the Roar's history needs to be reaffirmed. When the license changed hands almost nine years ago, the relationship with the founding fathers of the Lions fractured. The impressive complex at Richlands ? which includes a mini-stadium, three training fields and a social club now boasting 22,000 members ? fell into the hands of a company run by John Ribot, who was previously chairman of the Roar before switching camps.

Ever since, the Lions have chosen to run the argument that they're no longer connected to the Roar. The honours board of past players has been taken down and the majority of trophies and memorabilia have been moved to a smaller clubroom at Darra. Not long ago, the Roar were refused permission to return to Richlands to train.

As for the football team ? the same team that brought George Best to Australia as a guest player in 1984 ? it's been playing in the obscurity of the Brisbane Premier League, although the expectation is the Lions will return to the top-tier of Queensland football, the NPL, in 2018.

But if you're expecting to see acknowledgement of the Roar's rich football history at its birthplace at Richlands, forget it. The current owners of the Lions would rather pretend the past never existed. Can they keep getting away with it? Let's just say the 60th anniversary should serve as a timely reminder to the members they have a history that deserves to be recognised and respected.

There's also a broader issue at stake. Perceptions are easy to form and hard to shift, and the common view of the A-League is that it has no connection to its predecessor, the NSL. Only it does, and has always had since its formation in 2005.

Four of the original eight clubs ? Brisbane Roar, Newcastle Jets, Perth Glory and Adelaide United ? played in the NSL. Two others ? Central Coast Mariners and New Zealand Knights ? were effectively formed from the ashes of now-defunct NSL clubs Northern Spirit and Auckland Kingz.

So the truth is that while the A-League has been successfully marketed as a whole new ball game, it's always reached deep into the past.

Why does this matter? Because of expansion, that's why. As Football Federation Australia prepares to bring new teams into the A-League, there's a fear that having an NSL history will be seen as a handicap. Among the bidders to join the A-League are Brisbane Strikers, Wollongong Wolves, South Melbourne, Adelaide City and West Adelaide ? all former NSL champions. Should that history count against them? Of course not. But it might, which is why perceptions need to change.

By officially recognising their own history, Brisbane Roar have struck a blow for sanity. A club formed by Dutch migrants has every reason to honour its past, but that's never been an impediment to building a bright future.

The Roar have proved how an ethnic DNA can successfully evolve into a broad-based, multicultural one ? inclusive rather than exclusive. It's an argument South Melbourne and West Adelaide will be voicing vigorously as they bid to join the A-League. It's one the FFA need to consider honestly when they make up their mind.

In the meantime the oldest club in the A-League, Brisbane Roar, will set the perfect example. For someone such as Roar patron Gary Wilkins, a former Socceroo and Lions stalwart who spent much of his spare time in the late 1960s and early 1970s on working bees at Richlands, the 60th anniversary is vindication. You might be able to ignore history, but you can never deny it.

You mean the heritage that has never been mentioned by anyone at Brisbane Roar ever? So it turns out that our first ever trophy was actually the NSL Cup back in 1981? I'm not sure what the purpose of this is, but it feels like we're trying to give ourselves ligitimacy by latching onto a history that isn't ours.

There's no doubt that the Queensland Roar were born from the Queensland Lions, but in my mind it was created and set up as a completely new club and I'll continue to think of it this way.

You mean the heritage that has never been mentioned by anyone at Brisbane Roar ever? So it turns out that our first ever trophy was actually the NSL Cup back in 1981? I'm not sure what the purpose of this is, but it feels like we're trying to give ourselves ligitimacy by latching onto a history that isn't ours.

There's no doubt that the Queensland Roar were born from the Queensland Lions, but in my mind it was created and set up as a completely new club and I'll continue to think of it this way.

It's a bit like a son trying to take credit for a father's actions...the lineage is there, but are we the same club?Regardless...cue Perth Glory dummy spits...can't wait....

Looks like Kingsman's idea.Acknowledging something that is plain as day isn't controversial, surely? Playing in orange for 11 years, with a lion in the logo. I doubt anyone is suggesting that they are the same club, merely that there is a history behind the formation of this club, and it would be an alright thing to acknowledge it.

You mean the heritage that has never been mentioned by anyone at Brisbane Roar ever? So it turns out that our first ever trophy was actually the NSL Cup back in 1981? I'm not sure what the purpose of this is, but it feels like we're trying to give ourselves ligitimacy by latching onto a history that isn't ours.

There's no doubt that the Queensland Roar were born from the Queensland Lions, but in my mind it was created and set up as a completely new club and I'll continue to think of it this way.

its only come up since genuine discussion about expansion arose. Is, claiming Lions as part of the same family, a way of creating ambiguity for FFA in its view of Lions being a separate and viable Brisbane 2nd team. Particularly given the planned stadium expansion at Lions and their desire to remain absolutely detached and independent of Roar.

This said it all and confirms once and for all what I have been saying all these years:

"Thus the club born as Hollandia in 1957, which became Brisbane Lions when the NSL was formed in 1977, is turning 60 years old. Changes of name, or ownership, doesn't change the bloodline. Never has, never will. So there will be functions organised to celebrate the anniversary and next season the Roar will wear a commemorative emblem on their shirts."

"Those shirts will remain orange, even though the club wore a one-off maroon shirt early this season."Orange is the colour of our [Dutch] heritage, and we'll never change that," Kingsman said"[/b]

Is Kingsman from Brisbane?

He has NFI.

All this will do is dredge up all the animosity most feel for Hollandia.

Hollandia is the Manly Warringah or the Collingwood of Brisbane football.

Apart from the history (and I lived and played through a big chunk of it) it just reinforces the injustice of a broad based non ethnic successful team being replaced an ethnic team in what was supposed to be a non ethnic new national league.

The other thing that Kingsman fails to highlight is the fact that this team has been a consistent failure. It failed in the NSL and was relegated and it went broke in the A League.

If Kingsman's view is to prevail, then bring on South Melbourne Hellas and I will look for my Greece Euro 2004 shirt.

I guess it's all semantics. I read it more as a thread connecting the club playing as the Roar in 2017 to the club established in 1957. It is obvious to me that not only are they different clubs, but also clearly connected.

Being second generation Australian of Scottish and Swedish heritage, I don't feel I need to have any Dutch heritage to feel a connection to the Oranje of Brisbane.

Other teams have other roots they can explore. I can't see any controversy about this at all.

Hmmm....in 2005 the Lions Football Club..used its money to set up a separate football club called Qld Roar in a different league ie the A-League.

At whatever stage they sold their Roar interest to an un-Lions related entity (or handed it over not sure which).

Therefore that business is now not Dutch related in anyway.

So ,yes , acknowledge, if you must, that the Dutch influence created the Roar..... this means Lions is like a distant Grandparent .However do not dwell on it other than as an acknowledgement.

I have Scottish and Italian heritage way back but do not think of myself as either...I am Australian.In the same vein, The Roar has a Dutch heritage (of sorts... many of the Dutch at Lions were born in Oz), but it is an Australian club , born here and followed by people of all heritages.

Clearly the result of an unholy alliance between Sep, obsessed with Orange, and Terroarist, intent on making the Roar Black. They obviously convinced our confused CEO that Lions and Roar are identical to create a massive backlash.Devious.